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Dear Gerri and Roger, Thank-you so much for the time you have spent with me in prayer ministry. I so much appreciate your awesome prayers and wisdom. I have felt so much more at peace since then. Father is helping me to begin to experience His love for me, even as I think about and pray for my great-nephew, T. He was not born into the most fortunate of circumstances, but Father is blessing him! I am keeping a prayer journal for him, and I write out my prayers, concerns, and requests for him. Last night, as I reread a prayer I had written to Father a few months back, it said, "I would do anything for T." And it was as if Father said to me right at that moment, "K, I would do anything for you." Right now I am feeling priceless to Him, and if He gave His Only Son to purchase me with His blood, why would He withhold anything that is good for me? I don't get to spend a lot of time with T since he lives in another city, but the time we spend together is priceless to me. I know he trusts my love for him. The other day when we were together he did something and I didn't even know what it was, but he looked at me and asked, "Do I have to go in time-out?" That speaks volumes to me about how I can trust my Daddy's love. I'm doing what you said to do, "practice, practice, practice!" Thanks again so much! Love you, [top] I have longed for love all of my life. It was my search for love that caused me to look for it in all the wrong places. Indeed love is not just an emotion, but it is a necessity. It was this pursuit of love that seemed to escape me. Nevertheless, pursue I would. Sometime ago my pastor commented to me, “There was a time in your life when you were very joyful and care free.” Immediately my mind went back to my early childhood but then something or someone stole my smile, my laughter and my joy. What happened to me? From that point on in my life I have known nothing but pain and sorrow. The sum of my life could be described with these words: rejection, fear, self-hatred, disappointments, anger, confusion, depression, failure, addictions, suicide and the list goes on and on. At 33 years old, I came to know Jesus as my Savior. Finally I had hope for tomorrow, yet I couldn’t seem to shake this cloud of gloom that hovered over my soul. I desperately wanted a new life, but even many years after my salvation experience I was still battling depression, anger, fear and sexual addictions. I saw God as a hard taskmaster and everything was such a struggle for me. I wandered from job to job and church to church looking for peace and fulfillment, but my search was futile. I hated my life and I held God responsible. Then one day the unexpected happened. A friend approached me with caution asking if I had ever considered Christian counseling. I must admit that counseling never entered my mind, but I was desperate. During my first session, the counselor asked, “Do you know what love is?” Then he told me that love was the missing ingredient in my life. I continued meeting with the counselor and I began to smile again. I thought things couldn’t get much better, but God was just beginning the healing process with me. A year later I was introduced to Places in the Father’s Heart and oh the joy that floods my soul. Father is using Roger and Gerri to feed me with knowledge and understanding and it is freeing my mind, soul and spirit so that I may receive and experience the Father’s great love. With gladness I have given my Heavenly Father permission to perform open heart surgery on me. He is doing exceedingly and abundantly above all that I could ask or think. For so many years I had cried out to God asking Him to show me the roots of the problems I was experiencing and He is doing just that. As Roger and Gerri often say, “Pain out, and His love in.” I am now allowing Father to uncover my issues of fear, shame, anger, insecurities and the many walls I have placed around my heart to protect myself from further hurt. With great joy I am letting go of past hurts and forgiving all who have hurt me, abandoned me or rejected me. In the midst of letting go, Father God is restoring and healing broken relationships in my family. I am no longer a victim, but I am victorious because of His great love. Indeed there is a healing balm for the sin sick soul. It is His love. I am no longer in agreement with the thoughts of the adversary, but I am replacing ungodly beliefs and thoughts with the truth of God’s word. I am a Daughter of the Most High God. The love of the Father has lifted me out of the pit of despair. The love of my God, my Abba Daddy has turned my mourning into joy. His love has captured me. He alone has given me beauty for ashes, and a garment of praise. Thank You, Daddy, for loving me to life. SB [top] Roger, I was reading your book this AM, The Heart of Marriage, and marveled at your transparency. Wow! What strength you show thru your weaknesses. Many blessings to you and may the book bring light and freedom and God's grace to many! Blessings to you and Gerri, Al Rev. Alfred H Ells, M.C. Equipping Leaders to Finish Well [top] “Wow! The love of the Father just exudes from both of you. I have been very blessed in receiving prayer ministry. Thank you for helping me to become light, clean and whole so I can begin my new season in life walking out the Father’s love. I love you.” SC [top] “I get so excited each time I hear my wife tell someone about the healing she got from her Daddy, and the two special people that He used to help. She truly follows your example of receiving His love and giving it away! We love you.” GR [top] Dear Roger and Gerri, I want to thank you both for ministering to me last week. Your hospitality, counsel, prayers and blessings were a great source of encouragement. Roger, thank you for speaking into my life as a father. I never realized the depth of my hurt and anger towards my earthly dad. I thought that I had forgiven him, but I had not. On Wednesday of this week I visited my dad and asked him to forgive me. Then I prayed for him and blessed him. Sadly, that is the first time I have ever placed my hands on my dad and prayed for him. The sound of his voice praying did not fill me with anger as it had in the past. I look forward to praying for him each time I see him, and I am thankful that I still have time to bless, honor and love him. Gerri thank you for your many words of encouragement, especially concerning the situation with my wife. Your love for Roger was an inspiration to me and continues to fill me with hope for my own marriage and relationship with my family. It is a joy for me each day to speak blessings over my wife and my family. I don't know what the Father has in store, but I would not trade anything for the relationship that He and I have now. It is indescribable how good it is to be "home". You told me to make this my prayer: "Father, help me build a home whose foundation is love." That is my desire and I am filled with anticipation as that prayer is answered. Thanks again, [top] Dear Roger and Gerri: The Lord said, “he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” I had been praying and crying out for a VERY long time for the Lord to send someone who could minister to the needs I had. Though you may say He could have used others – I searched long and hard to find someone who could – you and Roger are a very, very rare find. I am not putting you on a pedestal – I don’t do that with people. The Lord is my God. But to say the price you have paid – the storms you have endured – and your willingness to let the Lord heal you is more precious than silver or gold. No money or worldly possession can compare to the work and the deposit the Lord has done in you both. As a result of your love, surrender and yieldedness to the Lord – every life you touch will bring a title wave of healed lives into the Kingdom. I have experienced 46 years in a dead zone. The Lord is using you and P I T F H by HIS SPIRIT to breath life into my nostrils…can these bones live? Lord God you know. Every life that I touch in my ministry you will touch also. I love the two of you dearly! Thank you! SF [top] Roger and Gerri: There are no words that can explain how much the two of you mean to me. The professional expertise of Roger’s counseling in my times of stress has been so valuable to me. He ‘cuts to the chase’ in 500 words or less and makes my mountains become a molehill without making me feel small or worthless. He handles me like fine china, yet gives me the help I am begging for in my very real world. Gerri, you have been the rock with the nerves of steel/iron to sharpen an old girl with a little girl inside. The death of my mother was the stepping stone I needed to continue into my destiny. Your thoughtfulness to me is now a sweet savor in our Most High God’s nostrils. My mother thanks you so much for steering her daughter’s life down the right pathway. Love, [top] Dear Roger and Gerri: I am glad to be where I am this Christmas as compared to last year. Compared to 20 months ago when I first signed up for prayer ministry with P I T F H, I believe I have taken a giant leap. In hindsight, I was a poor judge of worth. I failed to see the value of my wife and sons and more importantly, I failed to value the Father and myself. Sadly, I have prayed more for my family since our separation than I did while we were together. I took the precious for granted. Now Father has blessed me with the privilege of speaking His blessings and love over my family, and I do not take that lightly any longer. Speaking of His blessings and love, I want to tell you, Roger and Gerri, how much I love you and thank you for leaning through your own ‘situation’ the love of the Father and for being faithful messengers of that love. I bless you both during this holiday season with His presence; a presence so thick that you wake up in the middle of the night with the realization that He is watching over you, singing His lullaby over you, and smiling over you! RW [top] Dear Roger and Gerri: The Lord recently revealed several levels, or plateaus, that I have lived on throughout my lifetime. The first was “the victim mentality” brought on by physical, verbal, and emotional abuse in childhood. Next was the “I am willing, Lord” stage in the summer of 2004 when I gave Him permission to do anything He wished with my life. Then came the “I receive this situation as from You” level in response to quieting a noisy soul and bringing it under the authority of the Spirit. And most recently – “I celebrate You in this situation” – in obedience to Father’s instruction to acknowledge and revel in the truth that He is directing and has full control of every detail of my life. Each new level becomes possible as I receive His healing from wounds that He brings to my attention. The more healing I experience, the more freedom I gain from the enemy’s condemnation, and the more His Truth is able to take hold of and become part of me. As this process continues, I’m able to experience more of His unconditional Love, further weakening the strongholds of love hunger, and allowing me to walk with my Abba Father in His power and authority. I’ve found the operation of this progression to these various levels be directly proportional to the level of my seeking His presence as my vital need. (Psalm 27:8) Thank you greatly for all the rich nuggets you continually pour into me. They’re taking me on an incredible adventure with Daddy that I might never have experienced without you. Much love, [top] Dear Roger and Gerri, I can't tell you how much my visit has meant to my awakening. In spite of my own stubbornness, Father's love is simply over powering my life. Thought patterns are changing and priorities are being reordered. I am making a conscious effort to pour out what He is giving me. It's not really an effort though, more like wanting to share a wonderful secret with those who Father puts in my path. I give thanks daily for Father putting you two in my life to teach me things that have eluded me, things that make perfect sense and things that are helping me to get off the throne of my life and let Father take His rightful place there. In the Father’s love, [top] "Thank you, thank you, thank you for your love, your fellowship, your ministry, your hospitality and for being our friends and mentors. We are still putting into practice the things we learned from you two. In fact, we were talking about some of them last night, especially the one where we are to bless people, not only ask God to bless them. You will never know how much you two mean to us and how much we appreciate all the help you have given us. Our stay there and your ministry to us was one of the greatest experiences we have had. We love and appreciate you very much." MB & RB [top] Dear Gerri and Roger: Wow....what a day. After we hung up I just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. Having that mirror put up in front of my face is never easy. Seeing how judgmental I have been in the past hurt me so deeply but at the same time that spirit of humility fell and graced me with its presence. I went and read Matthew 7 and I remember having a dream while I was living on the Cape and in this dream I had something in my eye. I realize now that my friends didn't want me around because I had that judgmental spirit on me and put my nose up about everything they did if it was not the way I did it. I’m not condoning kicking me to the curb but you know, I don't think I would have wanted to live with me either. OUCH!!!! Thanks to you both for being so honest with me about me. I pray for truth and that is what I want no matter what that truth is or how much it hurts, I want to know it. Thank-you for being obedient to what Father says and putting it out there for me because my life and the way I look at others and most importantly me, is being changed in great strides. I'm forever grateful for this experience and to walk out Papa's truth for me with people I know that love me and want to see my purpose in Him fulfilled in a glorious way! Well I have to read more or your book, so I best go. I think I've said it all but in case you didn't get it....I thank you from the deepest part of my being and give thanks to God from whom you are sent. Embracing the Silence, [top] Dear Roger & Gerri; I felt for some time that I would like to share in writing a few of the things that God has accomplished in my life and how my life has been changed through prayer ministry with you both. I had not communicated for quite some time with you guys until that mysterious day when you received a brief e-mail that was intended for another friend of mine. It took a while to understand why I had received a response to the e-mail I had sent to another ministry and Gerri responded. When I did figure it out, I knew immediately that Father was telling me that I was to start prayer ministry with you guys. Isaiah 38:16-20 pretty wells explains where I was. I was very depressed and frustrated with where my life had taken me and I was even contemplating suicide. I had spent a number of times in prayer ministry in the past, some successful, some not. One instance was after the fourth miscarriage and I was told that God loved me too much to let me have a baby because He knew I would not be a good mother. Praise God, we have moved into a season of mercy that hopefully this type of “ministry” will become obsolete. Because of experiences like this, I was very hesitant and quite resistive to prayer ministry. But you have both been very graceful in helping me to move past some of my resistances. Thank you for continuing to invest time and prayer into my life. Through your “fathering” my health and life are returning. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. He so wants for us to experience His life and joy. John 17:13 I believe will be fulfilled in this season of Mercy. “And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness, within them, filling their hearts].” I had so much pain and disappointment blocking my heart from receiving the fullness of the joy of the Lord and being able to understand His gift of Love toward me, and you have helped through prayer ministry and the grace of God to unblock the path for the joy of the Lord to return. I was unable to have a healthy relationship because of the hole in my heart from past experiences with men. If you don’t mind I would like to share a note from my journal that may help you to understand the depth of the success of time we have spent together. 3/25/08 Just an update here, prayer ministry has been very intense this month. We dealt first of all with ______ (name omitted for privacy) and areas of hurt with him. I feel so free from fear and intimidation it is like the world has a different “color”. The biggest breakthrough has been with ______ (name omitted for privacy). NOW, after intense prayer, I see him walking out the door of that little apartment to leave me with a baby on the way, and I am waving and saying “bye Bud” with joy that he is leaving and closing the door with such great joy. I am dancing and whirling and Jesus is in the room cheering me on. I am so absolutely flooded with joy and I keep seeing reruns of this experience. For the first time in over 40 years I don’t feel that “hole” in my heart. My heart is filled with the joy of the Lord and such extreme contentment that everything and every relationship looks differently. Roger & Gerri, I totally understand that we are still on a journey here and that the work in not complete. But we have made so much progress that even if we did stop prayer ministry today, my world has been so changed by the partnership of Father’s Love and your cooperation with Him. Nothing is the same and I view everything from a different perspective. I have even had fun these last two weekends, doing something I didn’t realize was so much fun. I have been planting flowers and redoing my yard. It is great! May God richly bless you as you are faithful to HIS ministry to reveal His love to His people. AP [top]
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